Hosted demand aggregation

ABSTRACT

The demand aggregation system includes deal room sponsored by a third party host. The third party host facilitates commercial transactions between a plurality of buyers and at least one seller. In exchange for sponsorship of such a deal room, the third party host can receive an incentive such as a percentage of sales, seller discount or the like. Furthermore, mechanisms are provided to aid discovery of sellers and/or offers that can be included in a group buying event for a buying group. The buying group receives a greater discount as the total purchase amount in the group buying event increases.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/618,412, filed Dec. 29, 2006 and entitled HOSTED DEMAND AGGREGATION,which:

(1) is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Pat. No. 7,689,469, filed Aug. 14,2006 and entitled E-COMMERCE VOLUME PRICING, which is a continuation ofU.S. Pat. No. 7,124,099, filed on Feb. 20, 2003 and entitled E-COMMERCEVOLUME PRICING, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser.No. 09/324,391, filed Jun. 3, 1999 and entitled E-COMMERCE VOLUMEPRICING, now abandoned, which claims the benefit of U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application Ser. No. 60/133,769, filed May 12, 1999 and entitledE-COMMERCE VOLUME PRICING;

(2) is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Pat. No. 7,747,473, filed Nov. 3,2006 and entitled DEMAND AGGREGATION SYSTEM, which is a continuation ofU.S. Pat. No. 7,181,419, filed on Sep. 13, 2002 and entitled DEMANDAGGREGATION SYSTEM, which claims the benefit of U.S. ProvisionalApplication Ser. No. 60/318,789 filed on Sep. 13, 2001;

(3) is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No.09/922,884, entitled E-COMMERCE VOLUME PRICING filed on Aug. 6, 2001,which:

(A) is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No.09/324,391, entitled E-COMMERCE VOLUME PRICING filed on Jun. 3, 1999,which claims priority to U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 60/133,769,filed May 12, 1999, and entitled E-COMMERCE VOLUME PRICING;

(B) is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Pat. No. 7,818,212, filed Oct. 22,1999 and entitled MULTIPLE CRITERIA BUYING AND SELLING MODEL;

(C) is a continuation-in-part of P.C.T. Patent Application Serial No.PCT/US00/11989, filed May 3, 2000, and entitled MULTIPLE CRITERIA BUYINGAND SELLING MODEL, AND SYSTEM FOR MANAGING OPEN OFFER SHEETS, whichclaims priority to: U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 60/137,583, filedJun. 4, 1999, and entitled E-COMMERCE AUTOMATED SELLER SELECTION SYSTEM;U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 60/138,209, filed Jun. 9, 1999, andentitled SECURITIZATION OF ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE; U.S. Patent ApplicationSer. No. 60/139,338, filed Jun. 16, 1999, and entitled REAL-TIMEOPTIMIZED BUYING BLOCK; U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 60/139,518,filed Jun. 16, 1999, and entitled REAL-TIME MARKET PURCHASING; U.S.Patent Application Ser. No. 60/139,519, filed Jun. 16, 1999, andentitled E-COMMERCE PURCHASING CARD; U.S. patent application Ser. No.09/342,345, filed Jun. 29, 1999, and entitled CREDIT BASED TRANSACTIONSYSTEM AND METHODOLOGY; U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 60/142,371,filed Jul. 6, 1999, and entitled TIME VALUE OF MONEY BASED CREDIT CARDFOR MERCHANT; U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 60/160,510, filed Oct.20, 1999, and entitled MULTIPLE CRITERIA BUYING AND SELLING MODEL, ANDSYSTEM FOR MANAGING OPEN OFFER SHEETS; U.S. patent application Ser. No.09/426,063, filed Oct. 22, 1999, and entitled MULTIPLE CRITERIA BUYINGAND SELLING MODEL; U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 60/162,182, filedOct. 28, 1999, and entitled MULTIPLE CRITERIA BUYING AND SELLING MODEL,AND SYSTEM FOR MANAGING OPEN OFFER SHEETS; and U.S. Patent ApplicationSer. No. 60/173,409, filed Dec. 28, 1999, and entitled MULTIPLE CRITERIABUYING AND SELLING MODEL, AND SYSTEM FOR MANAGING OPEN OFFER SHEETS; and

(D) claims priority to U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 60/237,474,filed Oct. 2, 2000, and entitled MULTIPLE CRITERIA BUYING AND SELLINGMODEL, AND SYSTEM FOR MANAGING OPEN OFFER SHEETS.

The entireties of all prior-filed applications listed herein are herebyincorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

The buying and selling of products and services (collectively referredto as “products”) has resulted in a vast array of buying or costingschemes, which are used to select the price at which such products aresold.

One of the most common costing schemes which consumers encountereveryday is known as fixed pricing. According to this costing scheme,sellers set a fixed price for their products based on a past demand forthe product and/or anticipated future demand. Buyers desiring topurchase products from the seller are each required to pay the samefixed price regardless of the number of products purchased. If a sellerfinds that the demand for a given product is greater or less thanexpected, the seller may later adjust the fixed price of the product toaccount for such findings. Although the fixed pricing provides a simpleway for a seller to conduct business with multiple buyers, one drawbackof this costing scheme is that it fails to reward buyers willing topurchase greater quantities of products. Accordingly, the discountquantity pricing scheme evolved.

The discount quantity pricing approach to costing involves pricing aproduct at different levels depending on the quantity of products acustomer is willing to purchase. The more products a customer is willingto purchase, the lower the price. Sellers have incentive to lower pricefor large quantity buyers since the fixed costs associated withproducing the product is spread over more items. Thus, sellers are ableto make equal or greater profits despite the lowered price of theproduct. While volume pricing offers a benefit to larger buyers who areable to purchase large quantities of goods at one time, smaller buyersare often unable to obtain the lowered prices and therefore are morelikely to “shop around” for the best available deal. This, in turn,hurts both the buyer and seller. For instance, the smaller buyer isburdened with needing to search for alternative deals and still oftenends up paying a higher price than larger buyers. The sellers, on theother hand, are faced with lost business since they are unable to reducetheir price for the smaller buyers and still make sufficient profit.

Another common costing scheme for pricing a product is an auction. In anauction, a seller sets an initial price for an item and then multiplebuyers are given an opportunity to bid against each other for theproduct. The buyer having placed the highest bid for the product at theend of the auction purchases the product at the final price bid. Inorder to provide a larger forum for buyers and sellers, a recent trendhas been to auction goods electronically over the Internet. For example,one company known to operate an auction site over the Internet is eBay,Inc. Although auctions provide advantages when selling unique productsfor which customers are willing to competitively bid, the auction forumis not well suited for sellers desiring to sell large quantities ofgoods to multiple buyers given the inherent inefficiencies involved withselling one product at a time in a bidding environment.

Yet another costing scheme which has been advanced in recent years isbuyer-driven bidding. According to this costing scheme, a single buyerdesiring to obtain a product communicates a price at which the buyer iswilling to purchase the product to multiple sellers. Each of the sellersis provided an opportunity to review the buyer's price. A sale iscomplete when one of the sellers agrees to sell the product to the buyerat the price suggested by the buyer. A buyer-driven bidding scheme isdescribed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,794,207 assigned to Walker Asset ManagementLimited Partnership of Stamford, Conn. Another buyer-driven biddingscheme is provided in U.S. Pat. No. 5,897,620 assigned to priceline.com,Inc of Stamford Conn. While the buyer-driven bidding scheme providesadvantages for certain types of transactions when, for example, sellersmay be willing to sell products at lower than normal prices, theuncertainties involved with whether a buyer's offer will be accepted isoften problematic for high volume commercial transactions in which thereliability that a transaction will be complete is of paramountimportance.

While the costing schemes described above have various advantages anddisadvantages in different situations, a commonality among all of thecosting schemes is that each buyer operates independently with one ormore sellers to set a purchase price of a product. For example, in thefixed pricing scheme and discount quantity purchasing scheme, buyersindividually determine whether the sellers preset price schedule isacceptable regardless of whether other buyers have decided to purchasethe product or not. In an auction, not only do buyers operateindependent of other buyers, but, in fact, each buyer's decision toplace a bid has a negative effect on all other buyers desiring topurchase the same good since the price of the good increases. Similarly,in a buyer-driven bidding scheme, each buyer is completely unaware ofthe amount other buyers are bidding for a given product.

The independent operations of the buyers stems from a combination of thefact that: 1) the costing schemes discussed above provide littleincentive for buyers to work together and 2) there are largeinconveniences for buyers to facilitate communication about their buyingactivities to other buyers. Unfortunately, such independent operation bybuyers can result in missed opportunities for both the buyer and seller.For example, in instances where two independent buyers are unable toafford a product, neither buyer informs the seller of their respectivedesire to purchase the product. Accordingly, sales of the product tothese buyers do not take place. Due to the independent operations byeach of the buyers, such information is never communicated therebyresulting in missed opportunities for both the buyers and seller alike.

SUMMARY

The following presents a simplified summary in order to provide a basicunderstanding of some aspects of the claimed subject matter. Thissummary is not an extensive overview. It is not intended to identifykey/critical elements or to delineate the scope of the subjectinvention. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts in a simplifiedform as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presentedlater.

In brief, the subject disclosure pertains to systems and methods tofacilitate e-commerce transactions and demand aggregation. Moreparticularly, mechanisms are provided to assist interaction with and/orestablishment of deal rooms, or electronic forums, for buying and/orselling goods and/or services at volume discount as a function ofcollective room transactions. Both suppliers and consumers can benefitfrom such deal rooms in various ways. For example, suppliers can utilizedeal rooms for optimal production scheduling and/or inventory reduction,while consumers can be grouped and benefit from bulk discounts that maynot otherwise be available to them.

While buyers and/or sellers can host deal rooms, intermediaries can alsohost deal rooms in accordance with an aspect of the claimed subjectmatter. According to one aspect of the disclosure, a third-party sponsoror maven hosts a buying group and employs an offer discovery componentto discover offers of potential interest to the maven's buying group.After selecting an offer, the maven establishes a deal room tofacilitate purchasing between the buying group and the seller making theoffer.

In accordance with another aspect of the claimed subject matter, amechanism is provided to track orders by a buying group in the dealroom. A current price or discount amount earned by buyers in the buyinggroup is maintained based upon tracked purchases and a price curve. Theprice curve can be, among other things, a function of a discount amountbased on the total amount purchased under an offer. The price curve canbe modified by the maven to provide a sales commission.

According to yet another aspect of this disclosure, a system is providedfor management of the buying group. The maven can establish and managevarious aspects of the buying group. For example, the maven may add orremove a buyer from the buying group for violating of the terms andconditions of the buying group. The maven may also add or remove sellersavailable to the buying group.

In accordance with an aspect of the claims, mechanisms are provided tofacilitate discovery of buying groups and/or sellers. Geographicalrelationships among buyers in the buying group may be utilized to locatenew sellers that may have an interest in making an offer to the buyinggroup. Further, a buyer can find buying groups to join by supplying asearch engine with specified criteria (e.g., type of product and/orservice, price, geographical area . . . ).

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, certainillustrative aspects of the claimed subject matter are described hereinin connection with the following description and the annexed drawings.These aspects are indicative of various ways in which the subject mattermay be practiced, all of which are intended to be within the scope ofthe claimed subject matter. Other advantages and novel features maybecome apparent from the following detailed description when consideredin conjunction with the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a demand aggregation system.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a demand aggregation system including arepresentative deal room.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of demand aggregation system including a host.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of representative tools available to a host.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a buying group management system.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a geographical mapping system.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a group buying search engine.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a representative host or maven.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of a system for electronically conductingbusiness.

FIG. 10 illustrates a web page providing options to buyers desiring toconduct business electronically as a member of a buying group.

FIG. 11 is a flow chart diagram for a buyer desiring to conduct businesselectronically as a member of a buying group.

FIG. 12 illustrates an on-line registration form for a buyer.

FIG. 13 illustrates an exemplary buyer home screen.

FIG. 14 illustrates a group buying offer in accordance with one aspectof the disclosure.

FIG. 15 illustrates a group buying offer including a bar code.

FIG. 16 is a web page for a host to create or modify buying groups.

FIG. 17 is an input screen for managing a buying group.

FIG. 18 is a host's new group offer input screen.

FIG. 19 is a flow chart diagram for a host adding a new group offer.

FIG. 20 is a seller input screen providing options to create or modifyoffers.

FIG. 21 is a seller's offer information input screen.

FIG. 22 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a suitable operatingenvironment for aspects of the subject innovation.

FIG. 23 is a schematic block diagram of a sample-computing environment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The subject disclosure pertains to demand aggregation between andamongst a plurality of buyers and sellers. More specifically, thedisclosure is related to mechanisms that facilitate hosting ofelectronic deal rooms including price curves that vary as a function ofan amount of product ordered/purchased. In accordance with oneembodiment, deal rooms can be hosted by third parties or mavens. Thesemavens can act as intermediaries between buyers and sellers to promoteinteraction and commercial transactions between the parties. Such thirdparty activity can be encouraged via monetary incentives, among otherthings. Various systems and methods are described hereinafter withrespect to third party deal room hosting as well as relevant tools toaid such functionality.

Various aspects of the subject disclosure are now described withreference to the annexed drawings, wherein like numerals refer to likeor corresponding elements throughout. It should be understood, however,that the drawings and detailed description relating thereto are notintended to limit the claimed subject matter to the particular formdisclosed. Rather, the intention is to cover all modifications,equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of theclaimed subject matter.

Referring initially to FIG. 1, an electronic commerce system 100 isillustrated. System 100 includes a deal room component 110 to facilitatea commercial transaction between a buyer and a seller. The commercialtransaction can include an offer to sell particular goods and/orservices wherein a final price of the goods and/or services is afunction of the total number of orders received by the seller. The offermay also comprise a specified time period in which any goods and/orservices of a seller may be purchased. At the conclusion of thespecified time period, a final discount amount can be determined as afunction of the total amount purchased (e.g., quantity of product, totalsales, amount of money spent . . . ). In accordance with one embodimentof the subject disclosure, the offer can be a flash offer. A flash offeris a short-lived offer that provides a greater discount or extrabenefit. For example, a seller may create a flash offer wherein thebuyer has 45 minutes to place an order. The buyer receives the finaldiscount amount and an extra benefit (e.g., an extra 5% discount) forordering under the flash offer. The deal room component 110 iscommunicatively coupled to a buying group interface component 120 and aseller interface component 130. The buying group interface component 120and seller interface component 130 can facilitate interaction betweenone or more buyers in a buying group and at least one seller.

By way of example, a seller can employ the seller interface component110 to create and present an offer to the deal room component 110. Theseller interface component 130 can also notify a seller of ordersreceived under an offer in the deal room component 110. Likewise, thebuying group interface component 120 can facilitate receipt or retrievalof an offer from the deal room component 110 and provisioning of ordersfrom buyers in a buying group with respect to a particular offer.

FIG. 2 depicts an electronic commerce system 200 including arepresentative deal room component 110. Deal room component 110 includesan offer presentation component 210 that stores an offer of the dealroom gathered from the seller via the seller interface component 130 andcommunicates the offer to buyers in the buying group through the buyinggroup interface component 120. Accordingly, the offer presentationcomponent 210 can maintain deal room offers and provide guidelines forcommercial transactions conducted utilizing the deal room component 110.For example, the presentation component 210 can enforce seller terms andconditions or restrictions on buyers that can access the deal roomand/or offers provided therein.

The deal room component 110 also includes an ordering component 220. Theordering component 220 provides a mechanism to initiate and complete anorder for goods and/or services under the offer of the deal room.Buyers, via the buying group interface component 120, can elect topurchase goods and/or services presented by the offer presentationcomponent 210. Ordering component 220 is operable to accept orders andcommunicate the orders to the seller interface component 130 so that itmay be provided to the seller for further processing. The orderingcomponent 220 can also notifies buyers that the order was accepted andforwarded to the seller. Additionally, the ordering component 220 iscommunicatively coupled to a purchase tracking component 240 and thedetails of the order are provided thereto.

While the ordering component 220 and purchase tracking component 240 aredepicted as contained in deal room 110, it is to be appreciated thatthese components may be distinct from deal room 110. For example, in oneembodiment, ordering component 220 can be a checkout register in a storelocation of the seller. A special coupon code or bar code correspondingto the offer and the buying group is utilized when making a purchase atthe store location. The special coupon code or bar code enables thepurchase tracking component 240 to link the in-store purchase to thebuying group and other purchases made in the deal room and elsewhere. Inyet another embodiment, a buyer in the buying group utilizes a creditcard when making a purchase at a store location in accordance with theoffer. The buyer, when joining the buying group, can supply a creditcard number that can be utilized for group buying purchases. Whencharging a purchase under the offer to a credit card, the seller and thecredit card number are matched to the buying group and the offeravailable to the buying group. Accordingly, the purchase trackingcomponent 240 receives notice of the credit card charge and records thepurchase as part of the buying group's group buy under the offer. Thus,while the deal room 110 provides a consolidated means to facilitatepurchases and to track purchases, it is to be appreciated that purchasesof the buying group can be tracked by any option capable of linking apurchase to the buying group and offer.

The aggregation component 230 receives notifications from the purchasetracking component 240 whenever buyers place orders in the deal room.The aggregation component 230 records the orders of all buyers in thebuying group in order to determine a final price or a final discountamount depending on the offer. In one instance, the offer is forspecific goods and/or services will include a price curve for the goodsand/or services. The price curve is, among other things, a function of aprice of a good and/or service based on the total quantity ordered. Forexample, if the total quantity ordered is 100 units, the unit price maybe $10/unit and if the total quantity ordered is 200 units, the unitprice may be $8/unit. In another instance, the offer is for any goodand/or service of a seller. A discount curve is provided with the offerand is a function of a discount amount based on the total amountpurchased. For example, if the buying group purchases goods and/orservice totaling $1000, the buying group may receive a 2% discount offthe total. If the buying group purchases a total amount of $2000, thegroup may receive a 4% discount.

The aggregation component 230 populates the recorded orders on a pricecurve or a discount curve and utilizes such a curve to determine thecurrent price or discount based upon the orders tracked thus far. At theend of the offer period, the aggregation component 230 provides thefinal price or final discount given to the buying group. It is to beappreciated that movement on the price curve or discount curve can occurin both directions. For example, movement in the forward direction(i.e., towards a lower price and/or greater discount) occurs as thetotal purchase amount of the buying group increases. However, movementcan occur in the reverse direction (i.e., towards a higher price and/orlesser discount) when a purchase product is returned to the seller.Thus, if the purchased product is returned for a refund, the return andrefund is reflected by a reduction in the total purchase amount of thebuying group and, subsequently, by a change in the final price and/ordiscount.

Turning now to FIG. 3, a hosted electronic commerce system 300 isillustrated. System 300 includes a host or maven 310 that hosts andcontrols the deal room component 110 via a maven interface component320. In one embodiment, the maven 310 is a third-party intermediary. Forexample, the maven 310 can be an individual, an organization, acorporation, a school, a church or any other non-profit or for-profitentity. It is also to be appreciated that the maven 310 need not be athird-party to the underlying transaction facilitating by the deal roomcomponent 110. For example, a buyer or a seller can assume the role ofmaven 310 and host the deal room.

The maven 310 establishes an opportunity for commerce between a buyinggroup and a seller. In one instance, the maven 310 can discovers anoffer from a seller and/or encourage a seller to join the deal room.Additionally or alternatively, the maven 310 can create and/or manage abuying group. By way of example, the maven 310 can invite potentialbuyers to join a buying group and benefit from demand aggregation withrespect to offers gathered by the maven 310 and established in deal roomcomponent 110.

The maven 310 can be incentivized for facilitating interactions betweenbuyers and sellers. For example, a price or discount curve provided withan offer from a seller, for instance, can be modified by maven 310 toinclude a sales commission to maven 310 as compensation for hosting thedeal room component 110. Additionally or alternatively, maven 310 maytake a 1% sales commission on all purchases through the deal roomcomponent 110. The sales commission can be taken from the discountcurve. In other words, a seller may offer a 4% discount if the purchasetotal is $2000 but the buying group will receive a 3% discount on such apurchase total thus reflecting the sales commission taken by the maven310.

In one embodiment of the subject disclosure, system 300 includes anauditing component 330 that monitors activity in the deal room 110.Activity in the deal room 110 is monitored so the auditing component 330can ensure sellers are adhering to discounts detailed in the offers.Thus, sellers can be held accountable for failing to provide the agreeddiscount to the buying group. While auditing component 330 is depictedas a distinct object, it should be appreciated that the auditingcomponent 330 can be contained in the maven 310, the maven interfacecomponent 320 or distributed across both. Alternatively, according toanother embodiment, the auditing component 330 can be included in athird-party service distinct from the maven 310, buyers and sellers.

Referring now to FIG. 4, a representative maven interface component 320is depicted. The maven interface component 320 includes an offerdiscovery component 410. The offer discovery component 410 facilitatesselecting an offer to provide to a buying group. The offer discoverycomponent 410 can include or be embodied as a search engine, forexample, that retrieves available offers based upon supplied criteria.The offer discovery component 410 can also provide a list of sellersavailable to the maven. A maven 310 can subsequently select one or moresellers and view offers available through the one or more sellers. Themaven 310 can then select an available offer to provide to the buyinggroup in a deal room. It is also to be appreciated that a seller cancontact a maven 310 with an offer it would like the maven 310 to managefor example via the discovery component 410 or alternative mechanism. Inthis manner, the discovery component 410 can not only search out offersbut also simply receive them.

According to one aspect of the subject disclosure, the discoverycomponent 410 can receive a flash offer from a seller available to themaven 310 or otherwise already providing a typical offer to the maven'sbuying group. As flash offers are only active for a short period oftime, the discovery component 410, communicatively coupled to anotification component 430, can immediately inform the buying group ofthe flash offer.

A deal room for a selected offer can be established by the deal roomestablishment component 420 (also referred to simply as establishmentcomponent 420). The maven utilizing the deal room establishmentcomponent 420 creates the terms and conditions of the deal room. A salescommission, if taken, can also be set via the establishment component420. Once the establishment component 420 launches a deal room, thenotification component 430 communicates to the seller and/or a buyinggroup that a new offer is available and in a deal room. The notificationcomponent 430 may notify the buyers of the buying group and the sellervia a directed communication method such as e-mail, text message,telephone or the like. The notification component 430 may also advertisethe new deal room by a posting on a web site or electronic forum. Afterthe creation of the deal room by the deal room establishment component420, buyers and sellers may interact via the deal room as describedsupra with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

Turning to FIG. 5, a management system 500 is illustrated employable bya maven and/or included within the maven interface component 320 of FIG.4. System 500 includes a buying group management component 510. Groupmanagement component 510 enables a maven to control the status of abuying group 520 and/or membership therein. For example, terms andconditions can be established that must be accepted before a buyer mayjoin the buying group 520. While this can regulate member action, it canalso be used by a maven to control to whom offers are presented and/orparticular price curves provided thereto. For example, a maven may limitoffers to a particular group of individuals, as a function of groupmembership (e.g., friends, family, school members, employees . . . ),credit score or any other discriminating factor. Similarly, differentprice curves can be provided to different groups of users in one or moredeal rooms, wherein aggregation can occur by price curve or deal room oracross multiple price curves or deal rooms.

It is also to be appreciated that the group management component 510 canfacilitate filtering out users of a larger group based on someadditional criteria. For example, the group management component 510 canenable a maven to rank buyers in a buying group 520 based uponpurchasing histories of individual buyers. In this way, the most activebuyers can be determined. A buyer can also be removed from the buyinggroup 520 by the buying group management component 510 if, for example,the buyer violates the terms and conditions of the buying group 520.

System 500 also includes a seller management component 530 that can beemployed by a maven to control sellers 540 available thereto. A newseller can be added to the sellers 540 available to the maven. Further,an existing seller may be removed from the sellers 540 for violatingterms and conditions or any other reason. The seller managementcomponent 530 enables a seller linked to an existing deal room to beswitch out with another seller from the available sellers 540 if a moreattractive but similar competing offer is discovered in the short term.The seller management component 530 provides statistical measurementssuch as which sellers 540 are producing the largest sales volumes orwhich sellers are generating the greatest commission for the maven. Themaven can also retrieve histories of sellers 540 that include previousoffers, order volumes, discount totals and the like via the sellermanagement component 530.

FIG. 6 depicts a geographical mapping system 600 including a mappingcomponent 610 that can be employed by a maven or included within maveninterface component 320 of FIG. 4. Geographical mapping system 600provides the maven with another manner in which to introduce new sellersand items to the buying group and otherwise expand the product selectionavailable to the buying group members. While offer discovery component410 in FIG. 4 enables the maven to retrieve new offers from sellersparticipating in demand aggregation, geographical mapping system 600provides a different modality to locate and review those sellers.Additionally, system 600 enables the maven to locate sellers notcurrently participating in demand aggregation but may, nonetheless, beinterested in offering specials to the maven's buying group.

Mapping component 610 determines geographical relationships among buyersin a buying group that can be utilized to, among other things, locatesellers that may be interested in providing an offer to the buyinggroup. A buyer may complete a buyer registration form including anaddress when the buyer joins a buying group. The information from thebuyer registration form can be stored in buyer profiles 630 of thebuyers in the buying group. The mapping component 610 can utilize thestored buyer profiles 630 and make a graph of the buyer locations. Themapping component 610 can integrate with other mapping tools (e.g.MapQuest, Google Maps, Windows Live . . . ) to depict buyer locations ona street map. The mapping component 610 enables a maven to efficientlydiscern the geographical distribution of buyers in a buying group. Themapping component 610 is communicatively coupled to a seller locatorcomponent 620 to facilitate discovery of new sellers, offers, productsand services.

Seller locator component 620 utilizes geographical relationshipsdetermined by the mapping component 610 to reveal sellers in ageographical area that may be interested in offering specials to themaven's buying group. Seller locator component 620 may search amongstsellers participating in hosted demand aggregation systems hosted byother mavens. Sellers discovered by the seller locator component 620 canbe managed by the seller management component 530 described with respectto FIG. 5. Further, the seller locator component 620 may also integratewith other mapping tools similar to the mapping component 610. Forexample, the seller locator component 620 may utilize features of othermappings tools to locate businesses in a particular geographical areaoffering certain products and/or services. The maven can contact thesebusinesses and encourage them to offer specials and participate involume pricing.

In accordance with one embodiment, mapping system 600 operates on anindividual buyer level. If a buyer in a buying group subscribes to amembership in the buying group, the mapping component 610 periodicallyreceives data relating to the buyer's location. The mapping component610 can utilize the seller locator component 620 to find sellers and/oroffers base upon and near the buyer's location. The mapping component610 can ping the buyer's mobile device (e.g., cell phone, PDA,blackberry . . . ) to notify the buyer of the nearby sellers and/oroffers. The notification can be a text message, a voicemail message, ane-mail message or the like. Accordingly, the buyer can continuouslyreceive special offers while moving around to different locations.

Referring next to FIG. 7, a group buying search engine system 700 isillustrated. A buyer input component 720 submits a query to a searchengine 710 to generate search results 730. The query from the buyerinput component 620 includes criteria supplied by a potential buyer. Thequery may include a product and/or service or a class of products and/orservices. For example, the query may be for “teddy bears” or “children'stoys.” The search results 730 returned by the search engine 710 includebuying groups containing offers for the product and/or service or classof products and/or services included in the query. The potential buyerreviews search results 730 and selects one or more buying groups to joinin order to participate in a group buy as described with respect toFIGS. 1 and 2.

Search engine 710 includes a query component 712 that is communicativelycoupled to the buyer input component 720. Query component 712 receivesthe query and accesses a database 714 to retrieve matching buying groupsand/or offers. Information retrieved from database 714 is conveyed to apresentation component 716. Presentation component 716 processes theinformation and generates the final search results 730. The presentationcomponent 716 can rank buying groups and/or offers from the querycomponent 712 based upon various criteria. For example, the matchingbuying groups may be sorted according to current lowest price, lowestpotential price, number of members, number of active buyers, or thelike. Presentation component 716 may also utilize geographical data toprovide a potential buyer with relevant buying groups based upon thepotential buyer's location. For example, the potential buyer may desireparticipating sellers within a particular geographic area. Thepresentation component 716 will include buying groups with offers fromthose sellers in the search results 730. Results can also be filtered bythe presentation component 716 as a function of a stored profile orother ascertainable information about a potential buyer (e.g., age,ethnicity, marital status, political affiliation, credit score, groupmemberships . . . ) and/or any other contextual information (e.g., time,date, holiday, event . . . ). In this manner, potential buyers can bemarried with the most relevant buying groups including, for example,only those in which it would satisfy membership requirements.

Referring to FIG. 8, a graphical representation of a host or maven 310is illustrated to facilitate clarity and understanding. As shown, maven310 can host more than one buying group. For example, maven 310 hostsbuying group 820 and buying group 830. Each buying group 820 and 830 canbe provided more than one offer from one or more sellers. For example,maven 310 hosts two offers, one from seller 822 and one for seller 824,and facilitates transactions between sellers 822 and 824 and buyinggroup 820 under the offers. Likewise, maven 310 facilitates transactionsbetween sellers 832 and 834 and buying group 830 under offers providedto buying group 830.

Maven 310 can establish a variety of relationships among the buyinggroups and/or sellers. For example, the maven 310 can establish across-selling offer between buying groups. Thus, the maven 310 canfacilitate commercial transactions not only among sellers and buyinggroups, but among several buying groups as well. Cross sellingtransactions amongst buying groups are tracked and recorded similar tobuyer/seller transaction described in relation to FIG. 2.

According to another aspect of the subject disclosure, buying groups canbe combined, split and/or linked. For example, buying groups 820 and 830can be merged into a single buying group. All the sellers and offersavailable to either buying group 820 or 830 become available to themerged buying group. A new buying group may be created by splitting orspinning off from an existing buying group. Maven 310 may allow a buyerin a buying group to create a spin-off buying group linked to theparent. For example, buying group 820 can be created and sponsored bymaven 310. A buyer in buying group 820 may desire to create a new buyinggroup. Maven 310 can sponsor the buyer and create buying group 830 as aspin-off of buying group 820. The purchase volume from buying groups 820and 830 are combined or linked to increase overall purchase volume.Sales commissions derived from the buying group purchases can be splitbetween maven 310 and sponsored buyer based upon terms and conditionsestablished prior to spinning off. If allowed by the terms andconditions, buying group 830 can later by unlinked from buying group 820to become a distinct buying group separate from maven 310.

Referring initially to FIG. 9, a hosted demand aggregation system 900 isshown in which multiple mavens 310, buyers 930 and sellers 940 areelectronically linked via a central server 910. As discussed in moredetail below, the central server 910 is configured to provide the mavens310 a place to host a convenient forum in which the buyers 930 andsellers 940 utilize to buy and sell goods and/or services. The forum maybe an Internet web page, for example, established by mavens 310 wheremavens 310 can post select product information from sellers 940 and thebuyers 930 can order products.

The multiple criteria buying scheme calls for a seller 940 to provide anumber of deals for a given product, which vary according to differentoffering criteria defining the limits of a number of selling criteria,such as, for example, price, volume, quality and delivery time. Thebuyers 930 can enter a range of criteria that the buyer would requirefor a deal to be made. A list of sellers and prospective deals offeredby sellers 940 is generated for the buyers 930 to review. The buyers 930can then review the list of deals and choose a deal based on the buyers'930 particular needs. In this manner, the buyers 930 can be certain thatparticular thresholds have been met.

It is to be appreciated that the present invention has wideapplicability to the purchasing and/or selling of a variety of differentproducts and/or services. For example, the present invention may beapplied within the context of purchasing and/or selling airline ticketswherein buyers' criteria may include, for example: (1) reputation ofairline; (2) reliability; (3) timeliness; (4) price; (5) number ofalternative flights; (6) comfort; (7) quality of service; and (8)quality of foods. The sellers' criteria may include, for example: (1)volume of tickets; (2) buyer's versatility in time schedule; (3) buyer'smethod of payment, etc.

The subject innovation may also be applied in the context of purchasingand/or selling an automobile wherein buyer's criteria may include, forexample: (1) reputation of automobile manufacturer; (2) reputation ofdealer; (3) price of automobile; (4) delivery options; (5) automobileavailability; (6) safety; and (7) financing terms; etc. While, theseller's criteria may include, for example: (1) buyer'screditworthiness; (2) desired finance terms; (3) delivery requests ofbuyer; (4) delivery dates; etc.

Thus, the subject aspects of the claimed innovation allow buyers and/orsellers of products and/or services to pre-select a plurality ofcriteria prior to negotiating a deal for the product and/or service. Ofcourse, the pre-selected criteria will vary depending on the particularproduct and/or service. The scope of the subject invention as defined inthe hereto appended claims intends to include any product and/or service(and plurality of pre-selected criteria associated therewith) suitablefor deal-making in accordance with the described aspects of theinnovation.

Each of the mavens 310, buyers 930 and sellers 940 may access thecentral server 910 in any of a variety of ways. For example, in thesubject embodiment each maven 310, buyer 930 and seller 940 is shown tobe part of separate establishments, which include one or more respectivecomputer systems 922 and local servers 926. The computer systems 922may, for example, be a desktop or laptop computer with a local areanetwork (LAN) interface for communicating over a network backbone 924 tothe local server 926. The local servers 926, in turn, interface with thecentral server 910 via a network cable 950 or the like. It will beappreciated that while the present aspect depicts the computer system922 communicating with the central server 910 via hardwired networkconnections. In an alternative aspect, the computer system 922 mayinterface with the central server 910 using a modem, wireless local areaand/or wide area networks, etc. Further, it will be appreciated, thatwhile the mavens 310, buyers 930 and sellers 940 are shown tocommunicate with the central server 910 via different computer systems922, it will be appreciated that the mavens 310, buyers 930 and/orsellers 940 may access the central server 910 from the same computersystem 922.

The aforementioned systems, architectures, environments and the likehave been described with respect to interaction between severalcomponents. It should be appreciated that such systems and componentscan include those components or sub-components specified therein, someof the specified components or sub-components, and/or additionalcomponents. Sub-components could also be implemented as componentscommunicatively coupled to other components rather than included withinparent components. Further yet, one or more components and/orsub-components may be combined into a single component to provideaggregate functionality. Communication between systems, componentsand/or sub-components can be accomplished in accordance with either apush and/or pull model. The components may also interact with one ormore other components not specifically described herein for the sake ofbrevity, but known by those of skill in the art.

Furthermore, as will be appreciated, various portions of the disclosedsystems and methods may include or consist of artificial intelligence,machine learning, or knowledge or rule based components, sub-components,processes, means, methodologies, or mechanisms (e.g., support vectormachines, neural networks, expert systems, Bayesian belief networks,fuzzy logic, data fusion engines, classifiers . . . ). Such components,inter alia, can automate certain mechanisms or processes performedthereby to make portions of the systems and methods more adaptive aswell as efficient and intelligent. By way of example and not limitation,the offer discovery component 410 can employ such mechanisms tointelligently locate relevant offers. Likewise, the group managementcomponent 510 can employ similar mechanism to identify/filter group buymembers, for example by mining user profile data.

In view of the exemplary systems described supra, methodologies andmeans that may be implemented in accordance with the disclosed subjectmatter will be better appreciated with reference to FIGS. 10-20including a plurality of exemplary screenshots/webpages andmethodologies. These figures and related text are provided solely tofacilitate clarity and understanding and are not intended to limit thescope of the appended claims. In accordance therewith, the screenshotsare illustrative of only one of many manners of which graphics and textcan be combine. Furthermore, it is to be noted that for purposes ofsimplicity of explanation, methodologies are shown and described as aseries of blocks, it is to be understood and appreciated that theclaimed subject matter is not limited by the order of the blocks, assome blocks may occur in different orders and/or concurrently with otherblocks from what is depicted and described herein. Moreover, not allillustrated blocks may be required to implement the methodologies andmeans described hereinafter.

Turning now to FIG. 10, an exemplary web page 1000 is illustrated thatcan be generated and/or otherwise utilized by a maven to attract buyers.A maven may create and post web page 1000 to advertise hosted buyinggroups and/or particular group buying events to potential buyers. Theweb page 1000 provides potential buyers options to view group buy offersand join the corresponding buying group. For example, web page 1000depicts information panels 1010 and 1030 providing the details of groupbuy events. Hyperlinks 1020 and 1040 are provided so that potentialbuyers may elect to join a buying group and participate in the group buyevents displayed in panels 1010 and 1030.

In accordance with embodiment, web page 1000 can be generated and/orutilized by an affiliate distinct from the maven. The affiliateadvertises the maven's buying groups and/or group buy events on behalfof the maven. If potential buyers utilizing links 1020 and 1040 on theaffliate's website ultimately become members of buying groups, theaffliate's website is recorded as a referring website as part of amember profile. The affiliate receives a commission or othercompensation based upon the number of referrals or other such metric.For example, the maven pays a flat rate for each new member that joinedvia the affliate's website. In another embodiment, the affiliatereceives a percentage of the maven's commission on the purchases made bymembers referred by the affiliate.

Referring now to FIG. 11, the general actions taken by a potential buyerdesiring to join a buying group through web page 1000 is shown via flowchart diagram 1100. More particularly, at reference numeral 1102 it isinitially determined whether a potential buyer is already a registeredmember of the buying group. If the potential buyer is not registered,terms and conditions of membership in the buying group are displayed at1104. The potential buyer is presented with a choice at 1106 whether ornot to accept the terms and conditions. If the potential buyer does notaccept the terms and conditions at 1106, the potential buyer is informedat 1112 that membership in the buying group is denied. If the terms andconditions are accepted, the potential buyer fills out a registrationform. For example, the potential buyer fills out a registration form1200 such as that shown in FIG. 12. In this example, registration form1200 requests that the buyer enter the following information: buyername; address; telephone; fax; e-mail; preferred contact method;preferred user name; and preferred password. With respect to the username and password, if the selected user name and password combinationare unavailable, the potential buyer is prompted to enter a new username and password until an available combination is supplied.

If at 1102, a potential buyer has already registered, the buyer maylogin as a registered user by entering a user name and pass code whenprompted at 1114. Upon entry of such information, the user name andpassword is verified at 1116 with the information in the database at1110. If the user name and pass code entered by the buyer does not matchany entry in the database, the buyer returns to 1114 for re-entry of auser name and pass code. If, however, at 1116, a valid user name andpass code are entered, group offers available to the buying group aredisplayed at 1118.

Referring now to FIG. 13, an exemplary buyer home screen 1300 isillustrated. Home screen 1300 can be displayed at reference numeral 1118of FIG. 11. Home screen 1300 displays a list of buying groups in whichthe buyer is a member and a list of offers currently available to one ormore of those buying groups. Home screen 1300 also includes varioushyperlinks 1310, 1320, 1330 and 1340 employable to access aspects of thesystem. For example, hyperlink 1310 enables a buyer to utilize a groupbuying search engine as described with reference to FIG. 7. The buyeremploys the search engine to find new buying groups to join. Hyperlink1330 enables the buyer to change elements of the buyer profile. A formsimilar to form 1200 of FIG. 12 is displayed to accept profile changes.

In one embodiment, hyperlink 1320 is provided to allow buyer access to acommunity forum. The community forum enables buyers, mavens and sellersto interact amongst one another. These interactions can take the form ofblogs, e-mails, bulletin boards and the like. To facilitate interaction,each buyer has a buyer card 1350. Buyer card 1350 includes an avatar, auser name and a buyer status identifier. The avatar is a symbol orgraphical representation of the buyer. The avatar facilitatesinteractions in the community forum by providing a visual representationof buyers. The user name is the user name supplied during registrationas described with reference to FIG. 11. The buyer status identifiercategorizes the buyer according to the buyer's purchase volume. Forexample, once a buyer reaches a purchase volume threshold, the buyer istagged with a status such as “kingpin buyer” in the case of a highvolume buyer. Accordingly, mavens, sellers and other buyers canrecognize high volume active buyers by the buyer card associated with aparticular buyer.

Turning now to FIG. 14, an exemplary group offer 1400 is illustrated.Group offer 1400 may be displayed by a buyer through utilization ofhyperlink 1340 of FIG. 13. Group offer 1400 includes the name of theseller, the date and/or time period of the offer, the group code and theprice or discount curve. Group 1400 also includes a hyperlink 1410 thata buyer may utilize to make a purchase in accordance with the offer. Inthe example group offer 1400, the seller is offering a discount on thetotal purchase volume of any goods and/or service provided by thatseller. In one instance, hyperlink 1410 may send the buyer directly tothe seller. The buyer enters the group code displayed in the group offer1400 when making a purchase in order for the buyer's purchase to berecorded by the purchase tracking component 240 (FIG. 2). Hyperlink 1410may also redirect the buyer to an electronic forum or deal room oncentral server 910 (FIG. 9) wherein the buyer may complete the purchase.

FIG. 15 depicts another exemplary group offer 1500 in accordance with anaspect of the subject disclosure. Group offer 1500 includes offerdetails similar to group offer 1400 in FIG. 14. Instead of analphanumeric group code, group offer 1500 includes a graphical bar code1510. A buyer may print bar code 1510 and utilize the bar code whenmaking a purchase at a seller's location. Alternatively, a buyer maypresent the bar code for scanning via a mobile device (e.g., personaldigital assistant (PDA), phone, music/video player . . . ) at a seller'slocation.

Turning now to FIG. 16, an exemplary maven web page 1600 is illustrated.Web page 1600 displays a list of buying groups currently hosted by themaven, a list of sellers currently available to the maven, and a list ofoffers currently provided to the buying groups. The web page 1600 alsoincludes various hyperlinks 1610, 1620, 1630 and 1640 to enable themaven to access various aspects of the system. Hyperlink 1610 enablesthe maven to create a new buying group. Hyperlink 1620 enables the mavento find new sellers to add to the list of available sellers. The mavenemploys hyperlink 1630 to add a new offer available to one or morehosted buying groups. The maven can review the details of a buyinggroup, a seller, or an offer utilizing hyperlinks 1640.

Referring to FIG. 17, an exemplary maven input screen 1700 is depicted.The input screen 1700 displays the details of a particular buying grouphosted by the maven. Input screen 1700 includes a list of buyer who aremembers of the group, a list of sellers providing specials to the buyinggroup, and a list of offers currently available to the buying group.Input screen 1700 enables a maven to remove buyers from the buyinggroup. The maven may also add and/or remove sellers and offers from thebuying group by employing input screen 1700.

Input screen 1700 also displays the total amount purchased to date bymembers of the buying group. In addition, the total amount received indiscounts under a price or discount curve is also displayed. The mavenmay utilize the input screen 1700 to view the best selling products, thetop buyers making the most purchases or top sellers with the largestsales volume.

Turning now to FIG. 18, a maven input screen 1800 for adding a new offerto a buying group is illustrated. Input screen 1800 include of list ofavailable sellers 1810. List 1810 includes all sellers that the mavenmay interact with and include in group-buying events. If the mavenselects a seller from the list of sellers 1810, a list of offers 1820from the seller is displayed. The maven selects an offer and can reviewthe details of the offer. The details include a description of theoffer, an offer period, an offer code and a price curve. Input screen1800 enables the maven to enter a sales commission to be taken from theprice curve before providing the offer to the buying group.

Referring now to FIG. 19, a method for adding a new offer 1900 isprovided. At reference numeral 1902, offers are displayed for review. At1904, a desirable offer is selected to be added to a buying group. At1906, the terms and conditions established for the seller providing theselected offer are displayed for review. At numeral 1908, adetermination is made as to whether the seller's terms and conditionsare accepted. If no, method 1900 cycles back to numeral 1902 where theavailable offers are displayed for selection. If yes, method 1900proceeds to 1910, where a sales commission amount is entered inaccordance with the terms and conditions of the seller. If the terms andconditions of the seller disallow a sales commission, this option willnot be presented. Further, if the terms and conditions dictate a salescommission amount, the specified commission will be entered at 1910. At1912, the buying group is notified that a new offer is available. Eachmember of the buying group will be notified according to the preferredcontact method supplied in registration form 1200 (FIG. 12).Additionally, the new offer will be available for displayed after buyerlogin, for example, at 1118 of FIG. 11.

Referring now to FIG. 20, a seller input screen 2000 is illustrated. Theseller input screen 2000 includes a list of offers 2010 currentlyprovided by the seller. An option 2020 on the input screen 2000 isprovided to enable the seller to create a new offer that can be madeavailable to a buying group via a maven. The seller can also utilize anoption 2030 to view details of an existing offer.

Turning now to FIG. 21, a seller input screen 2100 for establishing anew offer is provided. The seller inputs a description of the offer, astart date and time of the offer, an end date and time of the offer anda desired price or discount schedule. The seller may desire to providethe offer to only a select group of mavens. Accordingly, input screen2100 includes an option to enter mavens to which the offer will be madeavailable for inclusion in a buying group. For example, only thosemavens listed by the seller on input screen 2100 will see the seller andoffer in the list of sellers 1810 and list of offers 1820 on the maveninput screen 1800 in FIG. 18. The seller may also specify a particularprice incentive offered to mavens. The price incentive establishes thesales commission the maven receives on purchases by the buying groupunder the offer.

For purposes of brevity and clarity, discussion of additional aspects ofdeal rooms and demand aggregation (e.g., setup, interaction . . . ) hasnot been explicitly reproduced herein. For additional detail, regardingsuch subject matter see the additional patent applications incorporatedherein by reference.

As used herein, the terms “component,” “system” and the like areintended to refer to a computer-related entity, either hardware, acombination of hardware and software, software, or software inexecution. For example, a component may be, but is not limited to being,a process running on a processor, a processor, an object, an instance,an executable, a thread of execution, a program and/or a computer. Byway of illustration, both an application running on a computer and thecomputer can be a component. One or more components may reside within aprocess and/or thread of execution and a component may be localized onone computer and/or distributed between two or more computers.

The word “exemplary” is used herein to mean serving as an example,instance or illustration. Any aspect or design described herein as“exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred oradvantageous over other aspects or designs. Furthermore, examples areprovided solely for purposes of clarity and understanding and are notmeant to limit the subject innovation or relevant portion thereof in anymanner. It is to be appreciated that a myriad of additional or alternateexamples could have been presented, but have been omitted for purposesof brevity.

Furthermore, all or portions of the subject innovation may beimplemented as a method, apparatus or article of manufacture usingstandard programming and/or engineering techniques to produce software,firmware, hardware, or any combination thereof to control a computer toimplement the disclosed innovation. The term “article of manufacture” asused herein is intended to encompass a computer program accessible fromany computer-readable device or media. For example, computer readablemedia can include but are not limited to magnetic storage devices (e.g.,hard disk, floppy disk, magnetic strips . . . ), optical disks (e.g.,compact disk (CD), digital versatile disk (DVD) . . . ), smart cards,and flash memory devices (e.g., card, stick, key drive . . . ).Additionally it should be appreciated that a carrier wave can beemployed to carry computer-readable electronic data such as those usedin transmitting and receiving electronic mail or in accessing a networksuch as the Internet or a local area network (LAN). Of course, thoseskilled in the art will recognize many modifications may be made to thisconfiguration without departing from the scope or spirit of the claimedsubject matter.

In order to provide a context for the various aspects of the disclosedsubject matter, FIGS. 22 and 23 as well as the following discussion areintended to provide a brief, general description of a suitableenvironment in which the various aspects of the disclosed subject mattermay be implemented. While the subject matter has been described above inthe general context of computer-executable instructions of a programthat runs on one or more computers, those skilled in the art willrecognize that the subject innovation also may be implemented incombination with other program modules. Generally, program modulesinclude routines, programs, components, data structures, etc. thatperform particular tasks and/or implement particular abstract datatypes. Moreover, those skilled in the art will appreciate that thesystems/methods may be practiced with other computer systemconfigurations, including single-processor, multiprocessor or multi-coreprocessor computer systems, mini-computing devices, mainframe computers,as well as personal computers, hand-held computing devices (e.g.,personal digital assistant (PDA), phone, watch . . . ),microprocessor-based or programmable consumer or industrial electronics,and the like. The illustrated aspects may also be practiced indistributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remoteprocessing devices that are linked through a communications network.However, some, if not all aspects of the claimed subject matter can bepracticed on stand-alone computers. In a distributed computingenvironment, program modules may be located in both local and remotememory storage devices.

With reference to FIG. 22, an exemplary environment 2210 forimplementing various aspects disclosed herein includes a computer 2212(e.g., desktop, laptop, server, set-top box, hand held, programmableconsumer or industrial electronics . . . ). The computer 2212 includes aprocessing unit 2214, a system memory 2216 and a system bus 2218. Thesystem bus 2218 couples system components including, but not limited to,the system memory 2216 to the processing unit 2214. The processing unit2214 can be any of various available microprocessors. It is to beappreciated that dual microprocessors, multi-core and othermultiprocessor architectures can be employed as the processing unit2214.

The system memory 2216 includes volatile and nonvolatile memory. Thebasic input/output system (BIOS), including the basic routines totransfer information between elements within the computer 2212, such asduring start-up, is stored in nonvolatile memory. By way ofillustration, and not limitation, nonvolatile memory can include readonly memory (ROM). Volatile memory includes random access memory (RAM),which can act as external cache memory to facilitate processing.

Computer 2212 also includes removable/non-removable,volatile/non-volatile computer storage media. FIG. 22 illustrates, forexample, mass storage 2224. Mass storage 2224 includes, but is notlimited to, devices like a magnetic or optical disk drive, floppy diskdrive, flash memory or memory stick. In addition, mass storage 2224 caninclude storage media separately or in combination with other storagemedia.

FIG. 22 provides software application(s) 2228 that act as anintermediary between users and/or other computers and the basic computerresources described in suitable operating environment 2210. Suchsoftware application(s) 2228 include one or both of system andapplication software. System software can include an operating system,which can be stored on mass storage 2224, that acts to control andallocate resources of the computer system 2212. Application softwaretakes advantage of the management of resources by system softwarethrough program modules and data stored on either or both of systemmemory 2216 and mass storage 2224.

The computer 2212 also includes one or more interface components 2226that are communicatively coupled to the bus 2218 and facilitateinteraction with the computer 2212. By way of example, the interfacecomponent 2226 can be a port (e.g., serial, parallel, PCMCIA, USB,FireWire . . . ) or an interface card (e.g., sound, video, network . . .) or the like. The interface component 2226 can receive input andprovide output (wired or wirelessly). For instance, input can bereceived from devices including but not limited to, a pointing devicesuch as a mouse, trackball, stylus, touch pad, keyboard, microphone,joystick, game pad, satellite dish, scanner, camera, other computer andthe like. Output can also be supplied by the computer 2212 to outputdevice(s) via interface component 2226. Output devices can includedisplays (e.g., CRT, LCD, plasma . . . ), speakers, printers and othercomputers, among other things.

FIG. 23 is a schematic block diagram of a sample-computing environment2300 with which the subject innovation can interact. The system 2300includes one or more client(s) 2310. The client(s) 2310 can be hardwareand/or software (e.g., threads, processes, computing devices). Thesystem 2300 also includes one or more server(s) 2330. Thus, system 2300can correspond to a two-tier client server model or a multi-tier model(e.g., client, middle tier server, data server), amongst other models.The server(s) 2330 can also be hardware and/or software (e.g., threads,processes, computing devices). The servers 2330 can house threads toperform transformations by employing the aspects of the subjectinnovation, for example. One possible communication between a client2310 and a server 2330 may be in the form of a data packet transmittedbetween two or more computer processes.

The system 2300 includes a communication framework 2350 that can beemployed to facilitate communications between the client(s) 2310 and theserver(s) 2330. Here, the client(s) can correspond to buyer and/or mavencomputing devices and the server(s) can provide the functionality withrespect to maintaining deal rooms and demand aggregation, as previouslydescribed. The client(s) 2310 are operatively connected to one or moreclient data store(s) 2360 that can be employed to store informationlocal to the client(s) 2310. Similarly, the server(s) 2330 areoperatively connected to one or more server data store(s) 2340 that canbe employed to store information local to the servers 2330. By way ofexample, a user (e.g., buyer, seller, maven . . . ) can login to one ormore servers 2330 via a client 2310 to facilitate interaction with dealroom/demand aggregation data persisted to data store(s) 2340.

What has been described above includes examples of aspects of theclaimed subject matter. It is, of course, not possible to describe everyconceivable combination of components or methodologies for purposes ofdescribing the claimed subject matter, but one of ordinary skill in theart may recognize that many further combinations and permutations of thedisclosed subject matter are possible. Accordingly, the disclosedsubject matter is intended to embrace all such alterations,modifications and variations that fall within the spirit and scope ofthe appended claims. Furthermore, to the extent that the terms“includes,” “has” or “having” or variations in form thereof are used ineither the detailed description or the claims, such terms are intendedto be inclusive in a manner similar to the term “comprising” as“comprising” is interpreted when employed as a transitional word in aclaim.

1. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having embodiedthereon instructions executable by a processor to: maintain buyerprofiles in a non-transitory computer readable storage medium; derivecustomized pricing arrangements for a product based on informationcorresponding to a buyer profile, and varying in accordance with aquantity of the product ordered from a plurality of forums for aiding inthe aggregate buying and/or selling of goods; offer the product foracquisition in at least one of the plurality of forums, the productoffered in each forum in accordance with at least one of the customizedpricing arrangements; and display at least one of the plurality offorums in which the product is offered when a set of searchedrequirements match at least part of a description about the product. 2.The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 1, furthercomprising instructions executable by a processor to provide anincentive that modifies at least one of the customized pricingarrangements for at least one buyer.
 3. The non-transitory computerreadable storage medium of claim 2, wherein the incentive is determinedby analyzing buyer activity.
 4. The non-transitory computer readablestorage medium of claim 3, wherein the incentive is a lower price forthe product when a certain activity has been determined to have takenplace.
 5. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim1, wherein the buyer profile includes information obtained from asurveyor questionnaire.
 6. The non-transitory computer readable storagemedium of claim 5, wherein the information in the surveyor questionnaireis collected by a third party.
 7. The non-transitory computer readablestorage medium of claim 1, wherein the offer for acquisition is limitedto an open session period corresponding to a time during which orders topurchase the product are accepted.
 8. A non-transitory computer readablestorage medium having embodied thereon instructions executable by aprocessor to: maintain buyer profiles in a non-transitory computerreadable storage medium; derive pricing arrangements that require aminimum quantity of a product ordered by a plurality of buyers within afinite period of time in order for every buyer to receive a discount,wherein each of the pricing arrangements is based on informationcorresponding to a buyer, and the buyer may receive a price that islower than an otherwise published price based on information containedwithin the buyer profile; offer the product for acquisition in at leastone of a plurality of forums, the product offered in each forum inaccordance with at least one of the price arrangements; and display alisting of at least one of the plurality of forums in which the productis offered when a set of search requirements match at least part of adescription about the product.
 9. The non-transitory computer readablestorage medium of claim 8, wherein the buyer profile is created in partfrom a surveyor questionnaire.
 10. The non-transitory computer readablestorage medium of claim 8, wherein the buyer profile is created in partfrom information collected by a third party.
 11. A non-transitorycomputer readable storage medium having embodied thereon instructionsexecutable by a processor to: maintain buyer profiles in anon-transitory computer readable storage medium; derive pricingarrangements for an item that are based on a minimum quantity of an itemordered by a plurality of buyers within a period of time for every buyerto receive a discount, wherein each of the pricing arrangements is basedon information corresponding to a buyer, and a buyer may receive a pricethat is lower than an otherwise published price based on informationcontained within the buyer profile and a minimum quantity of a differentitem ordered within a period of time; offer the item for acquisition inat least one of the plurality of forums, the item offered in each forumin accordance with at least one of the pricing arrangements; and displayat least one of the plurality of forums in which the item is offeredwhen a search for an element describing the item is provided.
 12. Thenon-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein thebuyer profile includes information concerning products ordered and thetime of each order.
 13. The non-transitory computer readable storagemedium of claim 11, further comprising instructions executable topresent a buyer with a personalized offer, wherein at least one elementof the personalized offer is based on information contained within thebuyer profile.
 14. The non-transitory computer readable storage mediumof claim 11, further comprising segmenting buyers into different groupsbased in part on past orders.
 15. The non-transitory computer readablestorage medium of claim 11, wherein the buyer profile is created in partfrom a surveyor questionnaire.
 16. The non-transitory computer readablestorage medium of claim 11, further comprising segmenting buyers intodifferent groups based on past orders.